


Brother Bridge

by lettered



Category: Avengers: Infinity War - Fandom, Black Panther (2018), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Brothers, Gen, Loss, Refugees
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 03:09:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14685195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lettered/pseuds/lettered
Summary: Shuri needs Thor's hammer.  Thor needs Wakanda's mercy.





	Brother Bridge

**Author's Note:**

> I guess I'm doing this?

Okoye was representing Wakanda during the transition of power from the Panther Tribe to the Jabari Tribe; Mom was handling the politics. M’Baku would be an okay ruler, and Shuri had no interest in being king. She had better things to do: repair the barrier field, upgrade weapons, turn back the clock to rewrite history. Thanos had a device that produced closed timelike curvatures, so theoretically, it could be done. 

“I’m gonna need your space rainbow,” she told Thunder Muscles.

“Princess Shuri.” Thunder Muscles crossed his arms in the Wakandan salute, which was pretty dope. “I’ve heard you maintain the barrier for Wakanda.”

“I’ve heard you’ve got a transdimensional engine that bends spacetime.”

“You want to find Thanos,” said Thunder M.

Shuri raised a brow. “Don’t you?”

“There’s something more important I must attend to first.” Then Thor told her this story—this far-fetched fucking story, some twisted version of Wagner and the Eddas that ended with the remnants of his nation, floating off in space somewhere with a Valkyrie. He told her about his brother, dying by Thanos’s hand, and Shuri finally lost her patience. 

“Look,” she said, “I’m sorry. I know how it feels to lose a brother. And a kingdom. And having your people at the mercy of the universe blows—believe me; I know. Why are you telling me?” 

“We seek protection,” Thor said. 

“I’m already doing what I can.”

“I don’t mean an attack on Thanos. I mean a defense.”

“Ask Captain America, why don’t you,” Shuri heard herself say, because for centuries, Wakanda had protected itself from enemies by secluding itself from allies. Meanwhile Captain America interfered when he thought he could do some good, and his country interfered merely because it could. 

“You built Steve’s shield,” said Thor. “I’m asking you to build one for me.”

Shuri had always thought of herself as a builder. She’d stacked blocks long before she could put words together, crossed wires long before she knew how to argue. She was the architect of dozens of inventions—better than Starktech. Cooler than Hank Pym. She was the maker, and she’d buried herself in it because she couldn’t construct less tangible things. T’Challa had taken care of peace and politics and power. Her brother had been the engineer of dreams.

_The foolish build barriers,_ he’d said. _The wise build bridges._

Shuri had thought that on the other side of a bridge over the timestream she would find her brother, but of link that brought her closest to him had been inside her all along.

Meanwhile the U.S. had made clear its stance on caravans of migrant asylum-seekers.

“Your brother,” Shuri said, feeling walls so carefully constructed begin to crumble. “He was the one who ripped that hole in New York.”

Thor bowed his head. “Yes.”

“You loved him anyway.”

“Yes,” Thor croaked.

“You don’t need a shield,” Shuri said. “Tell Valkyrie to bring your people here.”

If she was going to build bridges, she would build with rainbows.


End file.
